CH 3

“I asked the owner of the general store, and he said it only takes thirty minutes to apply the hair dye. Do you have thirty minutes to spare? It smells bad, but that goes away after a few days.”

Marienne turned the desk calendar toward her.

“Today is the first of April, so we’ve got about two weeks until Duke Blackwood sneaks into the capital, and he’s coming alone to avoid attention. He’s leaving the well-trodden path and taking a shortcut that only a few northerners know about. It’s through a forest with rugged canyons and wolves everywhere, so no one passes through even if they know it’s a shortcut.”

“Charon’s Canyon…”

“Yeah, that’s right there, for a human who’s rumoured to have been raised on wolf’s milk. It’s no big deal to go through the Forest of Lost Souls, right? It’s no different than dropping in on a relative on a business trip.”

“Wait.”

“First, he’s meeting with Her Highness outside the palace in two weeks. Her old mansion is empty except on Wednesdays, when it’s cleaned, and that’s where they’re meeting. Anyway, you’ve still got time, and there’s no harm in hurrying things along. Try dyeing your hair black first, and if that doesn’t work, you can quickly go to…”

“Aide Didi.”

“What?”

Marienne realised as she locked eyes with Vileon. In her haste, she’d gotten ahead of herself.

The young Chancellor looked shocked, his brow furrowed through the almond-coloured hair that covered his forehead. His gaze towards Marienne was one of extreme confusion. Her pale pink lips were trembling slightly.

It was a moment of vulnerability in a normally calm person. Oh, my God, this can’t be happening. Marienne sighed involuntarily.

“So handsome…”

” …”

“It’s the kind of good looks that are bad for your heart. Thump, thump, thump. Do you hear that? Thump, thump, thump.”

Marienne grimaced, clutching her left chest.

I know you have to respect personal preferences. If a northerner with the air of a man who could stab you with a needle and not draw a drop of blood is Odette’s cup of tea, so be it. It’s not her fault, and if anything, it’s the author’s fault for choosing a dark-haired, cold-hearted man to be her leading man in the first place.

‘But, Your Highness the Fourth Princess, does he really not have the slightest chance?

Marienne sobbed inwardly. If she could, she would cling to the hem of Odette’s dress and beg like a jilted lover.

Please, please, please think it over.

‘Her Highness the Princess is a romance fantasy heroine, so she’s lived a life with handsome men as far as the eye can see, and that’s why she was able to have a gentle, sweet boy as a childhood friend. But us extras, we can’t remember who lived next door to us when we were kids.’

If there was a boy in the neighbourhood, nine times out of ten he wasn’t a boyfriend, he was an enemy. He was ugly, he took my dolls, he choked me, he wiped his snotty fingers on my clothes.

The only thing that could make me angrier were the adult jokes.

When I hear a joke about you guys making love in the middle of a fight, I’ll burst into tears of frustration.

“Yeah. Let’s just say I didn’t realise the man’s worth when I was younger.’

Marienne’s gaze locked down Vileon’s body. What she couldn’t see through the desk, she replaced with memories of the meeting.

The cravat that hadn’t slackened under the strain, the body that flowed from broad, angular shoulders to a slender waist, the breasts that Marienne’s own palms could barely contain, the toned hips and thighs that rose above.

‘Ah, I almost missed the precious attraction point.’

Marien cried, staring at Vileon’s hand. They were not the hands of a rough and tumble warrior, though they were thick with sinewy tendons and bulging with nodes.

The cleanliness of their manicured nails, the warmth of their grip as they rolled in the snow in the dead of winter! A grown man’s hand, ready to reach out to you at any moment!

Doesn’t Odette know the charm that radiates from that hand when it holds a fountain pen?

She may not have been impressed when she was younger, but Odette is now a grown woman of twenty-two. There’s no way she can’t feel something for Vileon if her eyesight is still intact.

Marienne couldn’t understand it.

All other conditions aside, shouldn’t Vileon Byers be the leading man based on his appearance alone? He has a gentle face, but his body looks so angry.

The hot chestnut technique that melted cold Odette?

Well, if the dark-haired northerner can do it, so can we, Lord Byers. After all, the northerner was a virgin, and this is a genre where you can be both a virgin and a be unreserved, so it stands to reason that Lord Byers, who has been a virgin for a year longer than the northerner, should be a virgin for 365 days!

“You need to dye your hair!”

Marienne stood up, slamming her fist down on the desk.

“The Fourth Princess likes black hair!”

“…”

“Don’t ask me where that information came from.”

“I was just about to ask you that.”

“Anyway, take my word for it, haaa. It’s just a hair colour change, not an arm amputation.”

“…”

“And when people ask you why, say, uh… I was going to dye my hair, but I had accidentally spilled some chemicals on Lord Byers’ head that’s why you had to do it. It’s an excuse that fits in with your usual image of not blaming your subordinates for their mistakes, doesn’t it?”

Suddenly, the time spent stalling like this was wasted. Even now, the northerner could be galloping his horse toward the capital. Marienne turned to go get the hair dye first. Wishing she’d carried it in her bag.

“Stop.”

A soft bass voice came from behind her.

“Aide Didi, sit back down and answer my questions.”

What kind of orders sounded so nice? Marienne quickly sat down, her buttocks pressed against the chair. She was glad she wasn’t an agent or prisoner of an enemy nation. If she had been, she would have spilled the beans before Vileon had even asked his first question.

This wasn’t just a case of Marienne Didi being infatuated with her superior. There was something powerful about Vileon’s voice. He could make someone do his bidding without raising his voice.

“I must ask your permission before I ask you a rather sensitive question.”

Vileon stared at Marienne’s stomach for a moment before asking.

“Are you having a child and in need of financial support?”

“No.”

“Then why did you need to see a doctor to confirm your pregnancy?”

“Well, that.”

Because that’s what you do when you possess someone else’s body and they’re a woman. If I didn’t have a house, I’d find a house, and if I didn’t have anything to eat right away, I’d find food. If I woke up and I was naked, I would look for clothes.

On the other hand, Marienne Didi had her ritualistic needs completely taken care of. That was good, because she didn’t have to worry about the most basic of issues, but before she could embark on the journey to make Vileon the male lead, she had to make sure of the next most important thing.

“Because I’m cute.”

Marienne said emphatically.

“They say it’s a good idea for grown women to get checked once a year, even if nothing’s wrong, so I went to the doctor and there was a pregnant woman my age in the examination room, so I figured since I’d gone that far, I should get checked too.”

“Is that so…”

Vileon tried to guess the causal connection between the two sentences. It sounded like he was going over his notes to see if he’d missed anything.

“Does it have anything to do with Aide Didi being cute?”

“Just in case.”

“I’m sure Didi knows, but pregnancy tests are usually… done when you’ve had an unprotected relationship, or when you miss your period for no reason.”

It’s a very personal and sensitive issue. As such, Vileon was trying to sound as businesslike as possible, but the underlying worry prevented him from sounding 100% businesslike.

I actually possessed!

If only I could come clean, Marienne thought to herself. A story that would fit the ‘truth’ Vileon wanted, but would be far less understandable.

I don’t know much about the wonder’s body! It’s not in the original story, but I checked because Marienne might have a lover. What’s her cycle like? Is she unwell and has stopped menstruating? The last thing I need is to be left with a full stomach.

“Are you in a relationship?”

“No.”

“Then why are you…”

Vileon trailed off. He cleared his throat, then turned to Marienne.

“So, just to clarify, Aide Didi is not currently pregnant, nor is she in trouble for it.”

“Yes, that’s exactly right.”

“Okay. I won’t ask you any more questions about that, I’ve been very rude.”

The next question made Marienne fall in love with the man in front of her all over again.

“Do you have any personal acquaintance with the Duke of Blackwood?”

“No…”

The next question was the same.

“But how do you know that the Duke of Blackwood is engaged to be married to the Fourth Princess? The two of them have had no interaction whatsoever, except for a few minutes of conversation at last year’s ball.”

“Her Highness had already predicted the Duke of Blackwood as her betrothed by then…”

“Did the Fourth Empress tell her Aide Didi herself?”

“No…”

“Then how can you be sure?”

Because it’s in the original. Odette had been secretly searching for a marriage partner since before she was twenty. Odette is an out-of-town empress with a weak political base. To rise to the throne, she needed a partner who was both powerful and aligned with her interests.

Cain Blackwood was the number one candidate. It was also a candidate that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

So, for Odette, last year’s ball wasn’t even a candidate interview, it was more of a reality check.

I can’t tell you all this. In terms of ease of answer, you might as well have asked me why I took the pregnancy test. There was even some room to elaborate on that with a little effort.